March 12, 2010

Weekend Meditation: A Stroke of Insight

This week’s meditation takes the form of a talk given by Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard trained brain scientist. One morning in 1996, a blood vessel in Taylor’s brain exploded. Within moments, her left lobe--the source of ego, analysis, judgment and context--began to fail her. And much to her shock, she felt great. She'd been given a ringside seat to her own stroke and a host of powerful insights as a result.

Taylor describes the differences between our left and right brain and her experiences of oneness. As she concludes, "Nirvana exists right now."

Hillary On Mumbai

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families touched by these acts of terror in Mumbai. We still do not know the full measure of this tragedy, which has taken the lives of Indian citizens, Americans, and others who had traveled to Mumbai from around the world. Two New Yorkers, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka Holtzberg of Brooklyn are among those who have died, leaving behind their young son. The young couple had traveled from Brooklyn to manage a small Chabad house, welcoming Jews from India and elsewhere to learn, pray, and serve the community.
There could be no sharper a reminder, nor a more poignant call to action, than the brutal and heinous violence visited upon the Nariman House and the Holtzberg family, living and working in Mumbai on a mission of peace, scholarship, and spiritual guidance.
As those responsible are brought to justice, as we aid and support the victims and their families, as we work to defeat radical extremism and the terror it spawns, let us find strength in knowing that in the face of those who seek to take lives, there are those who seek to give hope and comfort. In the face of those who wish only to destroy, there are individuals like Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka Holtzberg who travel great distances far from their homes to build a better world.